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[8]
When that befell, the Argives turned to flee. And as
many fell, Eteocles and Polynices, by the resolution of both armies, fought a
single combat for the kingdom, and slew each other.1 In another fierce
battle the sons of Astacus did doughty deeds; for
Ismarus slew Hippomedon,2 Leades slew Eteoclus, and Amphidicus
slew Parthenopaeus. But Euripides says that Parthenopaeus was slain by Periclymenus, son
of Poseidon.3 And Melanippus, the remaining one of the
sons of Astacus, wounded Tydeus in the belly. As
he lay half dead, Athena brought a medicine which she had begged of Zeus, and by which she
intended to make him immortal. But Amphiaraus hated Tydeus for thwarting him by persuading
the Argives to march to Thebes; so when he
perceived the intention of the goddess he cut off the head of Melanippus and gave it to
Tydeus, who, wounded though he was, had killed him. And Tydeus split open the head and
gulped up the brains. But when Athena saw that, in disgust she grudged and withheld the
intended benefit.4
Amphiaraus fled beside the river Ismenus, and before Periclymenus could wound him in the
back, Zeus cleft the earth by throwing a thunderbolt, and Amphiaraus vanished with his
chariot and his charioteer Baton, or, as some say, Elato;5 and Zeus made him immortal. Adrastus alone was
saved by his horse Arion. That horse Poseidon begot on Demeter, when in the likeness of a
Fury she consorted with him.6

2 According to Statius, Theb.
ix.455-539, Hippomedon was overwhelmed by a cloud of Theban missiles after
being nearly drowned in the river Ismenus.

3 As to the death of Parthenopaeus, see Eur. Ph. 1153ff. In the
Thebaid
, also, Periclymenus was represented as the slayer of Parthenopaeus. See Paus. 9.18.6.

4 Compare Tzetzes, Scholiast on
Lycophron 1066; Scholiast on Pind. N. 10.7(12); Scholiast on
Hom. Il. v.126. All these writers say that it was Amphiaraus, not Tydeus, who
killed as well as decapitated Melanippus. Pausanias also （Paus. 9.18.1） represents Melanippus as slain by
Amphiaraus. Hence Heyne was perhaps right in rejecting as an interpolation the words
“who, wounded though he was, had killed him.” See the Critical Note.
The story is told also by Statius, Theb. viii.717-767 in his usual diffuse
style; but according to him it was Capaneus, not Amphiaraus, who slew and beheaded
Melanippus and brought the gory head to Tydeus. The story of Tydeus's savagery is
alluded to more than once by Ovid, Ibis 427ff., 515ff., that curious work
in which the poet has distilled the whole range of ancient mythology for the purpose of
commination. With this tradition of cannibalism on the field of battle we may compare
the custom of the ancient Scythians, who regularly decapitated their enemies in battle
and drank of the blood of the first man they slew （Hdt.
4.64）. It has indeed been a common practice with savages to swallow
some part of a slain foe in order with the blood, or flesh, or brains to acquire the
dead man's valour. See for example L. A. Millet-Mureau, Voyage de la
Perouse autour du Monde （Paris, 1797）, ii.272
（as to the Californian Indians）; Fay-Cooper Cole, The
Wild Tribes of Davao District, Mindanao （Chicago, 1913）,
pp. 94, 189 （as to the Philippine Islanders）. I have cited
many more instances in Spirits of the Corn and of the Wild,
ii.148ff. The story of the brutality of Tydeus to Melanippus may contain a
reminiscence of a similar custom. From the Scholiast on Hom. Il. v.126 we
learn that the story was told by Pherecydes, whom Apollodorus may be following in the
present passage. The grave of Melanippus was on the road from Thebes to Chalcis （Paus. 9.18.1）, but
Clisthenes, tyrant of Sicyon,
“fetched Melanippus” （ἐπηγάγετοτὸνμελάνιππον ） to Sicyon and dedicated a precinct to him in the Prytaneum or town-hall;
moreover, he transferred to Melanippus the sacrifices and festal honours which till then
had been offered to Adrastus, the foe of Melanippus. See Hdt.
5.67. It is probable that Clisthenes, in “fetching
Melanippus,” transferred the hero's bones to the new shrine at Sicyon, following a common practice of the ancient
Greeks, who were as anxious to secure the miraculous relics of heroes as modern
Catholics are to secure the equally miraculous relics of saints. The most famous case of
such a translation of holy bones was that of Orestes, whose remains were removed from
Tegea to Sparta （Hdt. 1.67ff.）.
Pausanias mentions many instances of the practice. See the Index to my translation
of Pausanias, s.v. “Bones,” vol. vi. p. 31. It was, no
doubt, unusual to bury bones in the Prytaneum, where was the Common Hearth of the city
（Pollux ix.40; Corpus Inscriptionum Atticarum, ii.467,
lines 6, 73; Frazer, note on Paus. viii.53.9, vol. iv. pp.
441ff.）; but at Mantinea
there was a round building called the Common Hearth in which
Antinoe, daughter of Cepheus, was said to be buried
（Paus. 8.9.5）; and the graves of not a
few heroes and heroines were shown in Greek temples. See Clement of Alexandria,
Protrept. iii.45, pp. 39ff., ed. Potter. The subject of relic worship in
antiquity is exhaustively treated by Fr. Pfister, Der Reliquienkult im
Altertum （Giessen, 1909-1912）.

5 Compare Pind. N. 9.24(59)ff.; Pind. N. 10.8(13); Eur. Supp. 925ff.;
Diod. 4.65.8; Strab. 9.2.11; Paus. 1.34.2; Paus. 2.23.2;
Paus. 9.8.3; Paus. 9.19.4;
Statius, Theb. vii.789-823. The reference to Periclymenus clearly proves
that Apollodorus had here in mind the first of these passages of Pindar. Pausanias
repeatedly mentions Baton as the charioteer of Amphiaraus （Paus. 2.23.2; Paus. 5.17.8;
Paus. 10.10.3）. Amphiaraus was believed to be
swallowed up alive, with his chariot and horses, and so to descend to the nether world.
See Eur. Supp. 925ff.; Statius, Theb.
viii.1ff.; Scriptores rerum mythicarum Latini, ed. Bode, i. p. 49 (First
Vatican Mythographer 152). Hence Sophocles speaks of him as reigning fully
alive in Hades （Soph. Elec. 836ff.）.
Moreover, Amphiaraus was deified （Paus. 8.2.4;
Cicero, De divinatione i.40.88）, and as a god he had a famous
oracle charmingly situated in a little glen near Oropus in Attica. See Paus. 1.34, with
（Frazer, commentary on Paus., vol. ii. pp. 466ff.）. The
exact spot where Amphiaraus disappeared into the earth was shown not far from Thebes on the road to Potniae. It was a small enclosure with pillars in
it. See Paus. 9.8.3. As the ground was split open by a
thunderbolt to receive Amphiaraus （Pind. N.
9.24(59)ff.; Pind. N. 10.8(13)ff.）, the
enclosure with pillars in it was doubtless one of those little sanctuaries, marked off
by a fence, which the Greeks always instituted on ground struck by lightning. See Frazer
on Apollod. 3.7.1.

6 Arion, the swift steed of
Adrastus, is mentioned by Homer, who alludes briefly to the divine parentage of the
animal （Hom. Il. 22.346ff.）, without
giving particulars to the quaint and curious myth with which he was probably acquainted.
That myth, one of the most savage of all the stories of ancient Greece, was revealed by later writers. See Paus. 8.25.4-10; Paus. 8.42.1-6;
Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 153; compare Scholiast on Hom. Il.
23.346. The story was told at two places in the highlands of Arcadia: one was Thelpusa in the beautiful vale of the
Ladon: the other was Phigalia,
where the shallow cave of the goddess mother of the horse was shown far down the face of
a cliff in the wild romantic gorge of the Neda. The cave still exists, though the
goddess is gone: it has been converted into a tiny chapel of Christ and
St. John. See Frazer, commentary on Pausanias,
vol. iv. pp. 406ff. According to Diod. 4.65.9 Adrastus returned to
Argos. But Pausanias says （Paus. 1.43.1） that he died at Megara of old age and grief at his son's death, when
he was leading back his beaten army from Thebes: Pausanias informs us also that Adrastus was worshipped, doubtless
as a hero, by the Megarians, Hyginus, Fab. 242 tells a strange story that
Adrastus and his son Hipponous threw themselves into the fire in obedience to an oracle
of Apollo.

Apollodorus. Apollodorus, The Library, with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. Includes Frazer's notes.

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